Beyond the Flag
Fansided

NASCAR: Ray Black Jr.’s deal with Rick Ware Racing rumored to have fallen through

By Asher Fair

JOLIET, IL - SEPTEMBER 16: Ray Black Jr, driver of the #07 RTFT All Star Racing League Chevrolet, stands on the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series American Ethanol E15 225 at Chicagoland Speedway on September 16, 2016 in Joliet, Illinois. (Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images)
JOLIET, IL - SEPTEMBER 16: Ray Black Jr, driver of the #07 RTFT All Star Racing League Chevrolet, stands on the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series American Ethanol E15 225 at Chicagoland Speedway on September 16, 2016 in Joliet, Illinois. (Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Ray Black Jr.’s deal with Rick Ware Racing to drive full-time in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season is rumored to have fallen through.

The day before Thanksgiving of 2017, Rick Ware Racing announced that Ray Black Jr., 26, would drive the team’s #51 car in each of the 36 races on the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, making him a full-time driver in the Cup Series for the first time in his racing career.

Black Jr. had previously started in three career Cup Series races. All three of those starts took place in the 2017 season when he drove the #51 Chevrolet for Rick Ware Racing. He drove at Chicagoland, Texas and Homestead.

He also has 31 career Truck Series starts from the 2014 season to the 2016 season in addition to 55 career starts in the Xfinity Series to his name from the 2015 season to the 2017 season. He drove full-time in the Truck Series in 2015 and full-time in the Xfinity Series in 2016.

Black Jr. was set to compete for the Sunoco Rookie of the Year award with two other drivers in the 2018 season. Those drivers are 20-year-old William Byron, who is set to drive the #24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, and 24-year-old Darrell Wallace Jr., who is set to drive the #43 Chevrolet for Richard Petty Motorsports.

More from NASCAR

However, it does not look like Black Jr. will get the chance to do so in the 2018 season, as his deal with Rick Ware Racing is rumored to have fallen through, which is somewhat surprising but is not a huge surprise considering no contract was officially signed in regard to the deal and now less than two weeks remain before the 2018 season gets underway with the 60th annual Daytona 500.

These rumors really picked up last week when Rick Ware Racing confirmed that 36-year-old Justin Marks would drive for the team in this year’s Daytona 500 and that he would be doing so in the #51 car, which was the car Black Jr. was supposed to drive in throughout the entire season.

Several days later, these rumors have not been refuted, and Black Jr. is still without a contract with Rick Ware Racing or any Cup Series team for the 2018 season despite the fact that the season is just days away from getting underway.

Next: Top 10 NASCAR drivers of all-time

It seems pretty safe to say that Ray Black Jr.’s deal to drive full-time for Rick Ware Racing in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season fell through. That said, there is still some time, albeit not much, before the season gets underway. Will Black Jr. land a ride?

Home/NASCAR